Podcasts episode·Aug 19, 2025

Building Costs vs. Housing Prices: Why Construction Isn’t Driving the Crisis

Tess Vigeland and Chad Syverson
Historically, one major reason has consistently been cited for the growth in housing costs in this country: the rising cost...
Topics: Industrial Organization
Podcasts episode·Apr 1, 2025

Crypto’s Fatal Flaw: Trust, Scale, and the Economics of Blockchain

Tess Vigeland and Eric Budish
Crypto’s most groundbreaking innovation, permissionless consensus, may also be its greatest vulnerability. In this episode, Chicago Booth economist Eric Budish...
Topics: Financial Markets, Technology & Innovation
Podcasts episode·Oct 1, 2024

What Can the North Dakota Railroad War of 1905 Tell Us About Regulating Modern Monopolies?

Tess Vigeland and Chad Syverson
When the Soo Line threatened to expand into the Great Northern Railway’s territory in 1905, the two companies entered a...
Topics: Industrial Organization
Research Briefs·May 1, 2024

Access to Credit Reduces the Value of Insurance

Sonia Jaffe, Anup Malani, and Julian Reif
Insurance is less valuable when people can also smooth their spending using loans. Access to a five-year loan decreases the...
Topics: Financial Markets
Podcasts episode·Apr 30, 2024

Fighting Traffic in Chicago: Lower Fares, More Trains, Fewer Buses

Tess Vigeland and Milena Almagro
American cities are overreliant on cars. Policies for reducing this gridlock and pollution range from changing public transit fares or...
Topics: Industrial Organization
Research Briefs·Apr 25, 2024

Location Sorting and Endogenous Amenities: Evidence from Amsterdam

Milena Almagro and Tomás Domínguez-Iino
Different demographic groups tend to prefer different types of amenities, and businesses respond by expanding amenities in neighborhoods with greater...
Topics: Industrial Organization
Research Briefs·Apr 3, 2024

Optimal Urban Transportation Policy: Evidence from Chicago

Milena Almagro, Felipe Barbieri, Juan Camilo Castillo, Nathaniel Hickok, and Tobias Salz
In Chicago, welfare would be increased by charging almost nothing for public transit, increasing the frequency of trains, and lowering...
Topics: Industrial Organization
Research Briefs·Mar 25, 2024

Banks in Space

Ezra Oberfield, Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, Nicholas Trachter, and Derek Wenning
The banking deregulation of the 1980s and 90s provides unique evidence of the way in which banks set up their...
Topics: Financial Markets
Research Briefs·Feb 27, 2024

A Commitment Rule for Insolvency Forum

Anthony J. Casey, Aurelio Gurrea-Martínez, and Robert K. Rasmussen
A new commitment rule regarding forums for international insolvency would not only benefit debtors and creditors, but also society at...
Topics: Financial Markets